Use of Wisconsin Mayor’s Official Photo On ‘Sorry For Partying’ T-Shirts Was Fair Use

A T-shirt that superimposed the text “Sorry For Partying” on top of an altered version of a Wisconsin mayor’s official portrait made fair use of the mayor’s photograph, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin held Aug. 15 (Kienitz v. Sconnie Nation LLC, W.D. Wis., 3:12-cv-00464-slc, 8/15/13).

The defendants’ use of the photo, the court held, was to offer political criticism of a mayor who in 2012 criticized an annual block party held by students at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. Forty-three years earlier at the first block party the now-mayor, who was then ...